CINEMA STARS RISING

More to come in Arkansas, Cinema Society buzz says

Based on attendance and the amount of dialogue surrounding the Arkansas Cinema Society's three-day inaugural event, Premiere, there's more to come from the society's founder, writer/director Jeff Nichols, and ACS Executive Director Kathryn Tucker, both Little Rock natives.

The Aug. 24-26 event at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater featured Adam Driver, who played villain Kylo Ren in Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens (2015), and film editor and director David Lowery. Besides a full slate of feature film screenings and question-and-answer sessions with Nichols, Driver, Lowery and others, a few social events were added to the action.

Perhaps the most well-attended was an Aug. 25 late-night after-party at Lost Forty Brewing featuring rock band Amasa Hines. Guests mingled in the parking lot and in a special VIP section for Premiere sponsors and special guests.

Tucker has said that the 300-seat Robinson theater is a likely place to conduct a possible Little Rock Film Festival in August next year. Nichols and Tucker went to Little Rock Central High School together and reconnected at a screening of Nichols' film Loving last year.

Besides Loving, Nichols' most recent works include Mud (2012), Take Shelter (2011) and Midnight Special (2016). Tucker and her cinematographer husband Gabe Mayhan chose Robinson to debut All the Birds Have Flown South (2016) starring North Little Rock native Joey Lauren Adams.

High Profile on 09/03/2017

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